The present invention relates to the golf clubheads shown and described in my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,954,595, 5,989,134 and co-pending patent application, with Ser. No. 09/641,705, filed Aug. 21, 2000, which are incorporated herein by reference, and in particular, to an improved metalwood type golf clubhead, having at least a reinforcing and stabilizing, hereinafter R/S member, including additional ball-striking surfaces, coincident with and parallel to the clubface and are located at the toe and heel sections of the clubface, enlarging it substantially. The present invention includes downsized top crowns and/or sole sections, disproportionate in size to the much larger expanded ball-contact area of the non-proportionately-sized clubface. Also, the present invention, specifically relates to an R/S member, including ball-striking surfaces coincident with clubface and centrally located vertically on perpendicular plane above and/or below, the clubface of a traditional shaped clubhead.
Most wood-type traditional shaped clubheads are currently made of metal, either totally of steel, titanium, or combined with other alloys. Other clubheads include a shell made of a steel with a face insert that is made of titanium or similar lighter weight material. This permits clubheads to be much larger, yet meet the accepted weight parameters for the respective drivers and fairway type metalwoods.
Although these traditional shaped clubheads are substantially enlarged overall, with higher face heights and wider, bulkier crowns and sole bottoms, their clubfaces have not increased the effective ball-contact hitting area, in a heel to toe direction, proportionately to the overall enlarged clubheads for possible improved performance, for most golfers. To keep the overall clubhead size larger, and lighter, as currently demanded by most higher handicap golfers, the structural integrity of the side walls and the clubfaces, is often compromised. This causes stress cracks, unstable clubhead control at ball contact, and erratic ball flight control, resulting in loss of distance, accuracy, and inability to produce reassuring and repeating solid ball contacts, even when hit flush.
Many attempts have been made to reinforce metal wood type clubheads as shown and described in the prior art. Raymont (U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,399) reinforces the back of the clubface with a honeycomb structure. My U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,230 reinforces the interior of a metalwood with a first mass located behind the ball-striking face, and my U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,279 provides an interior peripheral mass basically along the inner periphery, of the clubhead shell behind the clubface. My U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,134 reinforces the outer side walls, rear, bottom and crown areas of a wood-type golf clubhead. U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,745 to Adams shows a low profile, wood type golf clubhead wherein the bottom sole surface is larger than the upper crown surface.
Various structural improvements have been used to strengthen and modify the integrity of prior art conventional metalwoods. Nevertheless, for most golfers, the subtle changes to the clubhead and the expected performance of the larger metalwood clubheads, have been disappointing. The performance of most of these traditional shaped metalwoods has not materially improved clubhead feel at ball contact, or significantly increased clubhead stability and control for anticipated improved accuracy and additional significant distance. Consequently, these bulkier, over-sized traditional shaped clubheads have not meaningfully advanced the golfers' performance potential.